Positioner patient platforms allow a medical practitioner to properly position a patient during certain medical procedures, including, for example, XR, CT, Nuclear and PET procedures. Initially, these positioner platforms were little more than table-tops upon which a patient could lie. These prior patient platforms had only a limited ability to effect elevational changes in order to allow for the proper positioning of a patient. Moreover, these prior patient platforms did not allow for longitudinal changes to the location of the platform, and permitted tilting, if at all, only about a fixed point of rotation. Indeed, prior patient platforms provided motion only along a single degree of freedom and, therefore, significantly limited the ability of a medical practitioner to move a patient in other directions.
Past patient platforms, therefore, made it cumbersome and difficult, for example, for disabled or wheelchair-bound patients to gain initial access to the patient platform. In addition, past patient platforms unduly complicated the process of properly and accurately positioning the prone patient during a medical procedure. In particular, prior platforms did not permit independent or combined adjustments to elevation, tilt, or longitudinal position.
Beyond making it difficult to properly position a patient, prior patient platforms also limited a medical practitioner's access to the patient. Patient access, of course, is an important factor in achieving proper patient monitoring, positioning, and diagnosis. However, patient platforms permitting elevational changes, for example, were frequently designed in a "C" configuration, such that a supporting member interfered with access to the patient from at least one side of the platform.
A need has long existed for a new and improved positioner patient platform which overcomes the difficulties described above and others previously experienced.